Thursday, May 28, 2009

NOMfail: So, over on Facebooklandia and Twitterlandia I've been complaining that I keep getting robo-calls from the homophobic National Organization for Marriage asking me if I believe in "traditional marriage" and urging me to call my state senate representative to vote against marriage equality.

So today's announcement by NOM that they have done over 1.4 million robo-calls in 25 of New York State's senate districts comes as no surprise.

But - hey! - they also announced the launch of a new ad (as well as a TV ad-buy targeting markets in Long Island, Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Poughkeepsie, Watertown, and Newburgh-Middletown).

Obviously the messaging is similar to the ads that proponents of Prop. 8 in California said were most effective: Claiming that children are at risk if same-sex couples are allowed to marry. Notice, too, the voice over and imagery and know that they are also specifically targeting black communities in the area.

Some folk have already indicated that the ad uses stock images from a British company (never mind that NOM is based in New Jersey and meddling in New York State). But the funniest bit is that - for an anti-marriage organization - they certainly seem to have a loose hold on their actual spelling of the word "marriage".

Check out the last frames and see what I mean.

Go ahead. Feel free to chuckle. "Say no to same same marraige" indeed! I certainly had a big laugh this morning. But, also, don't let the funnies make you think that their strategies will not be effective. As much as they present themselves as victims, they are going to push hard to deny us our rights with a single-minded tenacity that our community sometimes lacks. Keep an eye on NOM and push back. Please consider donating to the Empire State Pride Agenda so they can fight back (click here for info). The cynical part of me thinks that NOM might have even deliberately misspelled marriage at the end so that it would ensure that the YouTube video would be passed on over and over.

In the meantime, The Advocate reports that WPIX-TV has refused to air the NOM commercial. Please contact WPIX-TV here and thank them for refusing to run an advertisement that clearly seeks to discriminate against one specific community by denying us the same rights as everyone else.

UPDATE: A second version of the new ad is out! "Marraige" is now "Marriage"! Good for NOM spell-checkers! "Same Same" is still on. NOMfail. Again. Here's my screen capture of the 'fixed' but still embarrassing ad. Will the third time be the charm?